Shaun Burgoyne will this Friday night become the third Hawk to reach the 300 VFL-AFL games milestone through a combination of games at Hawthorn and another club.

In total, Burgoyne will be the ninth individual to play his 300th VFL-AFL game in Hawthorn colours. Six of the nine played their whole careers at Hawthorn, while the other two players in Burgoyne’s category are Russell Greene (304 games - 120 at St Kilda, 184 at Hawthorn) and Paul Salmon (324 games - 224 at Essendon, 100 at Hawthorn). Burgoyne played 157 games at Port Adelaide and Friday night will be his 143rd game for the Hawks.

In Greene’s 300th game in 1988, Hawthorn recorded a win against Geelong, while Salmon’s 300th game in the 2000 season was a less happy occasion as the Hawks lost to Melbourne.

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The narrow victories against the Western Bulldogs and St Kilda mean Hawthorn has won consecutive games by a goal or less for the first time since 1999. In Rounds 20 and 21 1999, the Hawks beat West Coast by two points at the WACA Ground and then followed with a victory by the same margin against Geelong at Waverley the following week

Following the two recent wins, Hawthorn is edging closer to squaring the ledger in games decided by six points or fewer. Of the 225 such matches, the Hawks have won 107, lost 108 and drawn 10.

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Speaking of narrow wins this round marks the tenth anniversary of Hawthorn’s most recent win by one point. In Round 5 2006, Mark Williams kicked the winning goal at a wet MCG to allow Hawthorn 12.12.84 to beat Essendon 12.11.83. The final goal was Williams third for the game, while other good performers included ex-Bomber Danny Jacobs who took 15 marks, plus Chance Bateman, Ben Dixon, Shane Crawford, Joel Smith, Tim Clarke and Sam Mitchell.

Prior to the 2006 win, the previous one point victory was in the famous ‘merger match’ in Round 22 1996, and before that the most recent example was against Carlton in 1987. These big gaps between one point wins are a far cry from the late 1950s when Hawthorn recorded one point successes in three consecutive seasons (1958, 1959 and 1960).

There has also been only a solitary one point loss in the last decade, which was against Geelong in 2009. Prior to that, there were a pair of one point defeats in the very disappointing 2004 season. The 1970s was a bad decade for one point losses by Hawthorn – there were six of them in the decade.

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If games decided by one point are getting rarer, securing 44 disposals in a game (the equal club record) is becoming much more common. Terry Wallace did it in 1983, Anthony Condon in 1991 and now there have been four instances in the past three seasons - by Jordan Lewis (2014), Luke Hodge (2015) and both Josh Gibson and Sam Mitchell this season.

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In this Anzac Day round, we should remember the ten Hawthorn League players who lost their lives in the Second World War, or died as a result as a result of war wounds, or war-related illness – Jack Drake, Alf Giblett, Bruce Hone, Alex Nash, Richard Pirrie, Jack Price, Len Thomas, Max Wheeler, Leo ‘Gus’ Young and Harold Zucker.

There were also a number of players who represented the club in its days in the Metropolitan Junior Football Association and VFA who lost their lives on active duty in the First World War. Their names include Hugh Callan, John Collins, Don McConville, Joe Slater and Joseph Sorby.

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Surely never in Hawthorn history have two such great players debuted together as when Sam Mitchell and Luke Hodge did so 14 years ago this week, in Round 5 2002.

Since that game against Richmond at the MCG, both men have captained the club, won six Crimmins Medals between them and played together in four Premiership teams. To add to the significance of the day, 2008 Premiership ruckman Robert Campbell also debuted on the same game. The match saw Hawthorn beat Richmond by 42 points, with Nick Holland and Daniel Chick each kicking 4 goals and Angelo Lekkas having the most disposals (27).

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Hawthorn’s win over Adelaide in last season’s Semi Final gave Hawthorn the lead in the head-to-head record between the two clubs, by 19 to 18. That win was the Hawks sixth in a row against the Crows, with the last loss being back in Round 1 2011 at Football Park. The two teams have met eight times at the MCG (5 Hawthorn home games and 3 Finals) with the Hawks having the edge by 5 wins to 3.

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Hawthorn has played 90 games in Round 5 for 39 wins and 51 losses (having a bye in 1993). In recent seasons it has been a mixed round for the club with wins against North Melbourne in both 2013 and 2015, compared with losses in the round to North Melbourne (2010), Geelong (2011 and 2014) and Sydney (2012).

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In Round 5 1969 Peter Hudson kicked a club record 16 goals against Melbourne at Glenferrie in 1969. It remains the record for the round and has only been beaten once in any other round, by Jason Dunstall’s 17 against Richmond in 1992. Dunstall holds the record against Adelaide, kicking 9 goals on three separate occasions against the Crows – in 1993 and 1994 (both at Football Park) and in 1996 (at Waverley).